


I Hate The Way I Need You

by Njoy



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Anxiety Disorder, F/M, Fluff, High School, M/M, Teenagers, foster brothers - Freeform, idk - Freeform, more tags soon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:20:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21835843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Njoy/pseuds/Njoy
Summary: What is Tweek to do when his new foster brother won't stop coming on to him?What is he supposed to say when he falls in love?×××××××××××××“Gonna tell me why you ran?” A long arm slithers past Tweeks back, holding him to Craig as if to let him know he better not leave again. “When I called you cute.”
Relationships: Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak, Kenny McCormick/Leopold "Butters" Stotch, Relationships added as they appear
Comments: 23
Kudos: 116





	1. Ready Or Not

Tweek places a cinnamon apple scented cube into the wax warmer and turns it on, breathing in the new fragrance. He scans the kitchen and living room, everything is absolutely perfect. He’d spent the entire day making sure every nook and cranny of the house was completely spotless. His new big brother would be here soon. He didn’t want their first meeting to be in a dark, dusty environment.

Truthfully though, the house didn’t need to be cleaned at all, but his nerves wouldn’t allow him to sit still for very long. Worries filled his head, the most prominent being if his brother didn’t like him. What if he thought he was a freak? He could tell the caseworkers that he didn’t feel safe here because of him. Of course, Tweek wasn’t a violent person at all. He was very loving and accepting of most everything. The thing though, is most people weren’t as accepting of him. Any wrong move could cause this to all fall apart and that’s the last thing he wanted. More for his foster mom, than for himself. If things went downhill, it would break his foster mom, Anne’s, heart. That’s the last thing he wanted.

He looks over to the calendar and the big red circle around today's date that reads:‘Craig comes home!!’ and smiles. He can almost feel her excitement just from reading those simple words. 

Anne loved Tweek so very much, and he loved her too. She wasn’t a foster anything to him. She was his mother and for all he cared, she had always been his mom. It just took them awhile to find each other. When he was young, she was his savior. He didn’t realize it back then, but now, every time he looks back on the day she took him in, she was the angel he never thought he deserved. For seven years she’d taken care of him as a foster mom and was now doing her best in the process of adoption. 

When he moved in and she’d gotten to know him better, she took him off caffeine and kept him on a steady nutritious diet. It helped him a lot, but he obviously still needed therapy for his generalized anxiety disorder, among other things. After all the progress he’d made, he can drink a soda a day with no problems, unless he’s already extremely stressed out. Therefore, not wanting to take any chances, he opted to go without today. He needs to be the very best. 

Then it hits him. He has so many problems, even with all the progress, he isn’t like other people his age. What if having Craig around shows her that? She could be free of his added stress to her life and just keep Craig. His heart starts to race. He needs to take his pill, and soon.

He rushes to his room and reaches towards his medication bottles, his shaking hands causing them to all fall to the floor. “Oh God no, please!” Bottles are being rolled around the carpet as he picks one up at a time, looking for his blue pill, the fast acting pill that helps stave away panic attacks. “Yes!” He sits down, slowing his breathing as he removes the cap and pops one onto his tongue. Just knowing he has something there that will help him soon, already makes him feel ten times better. But that still isn’t near enough. “I-I’m oh okay. I can breathe.” A few tears stream down his cheeks. “She won’t re-replace me. My mom won’t leave me. S-she can’t!”

Meow~~

Tweek jumps backwards, hitting his head against the door. The cat walks towards him, tilting her head and pulling her ears back. “Hey Deli. I’m okay girl. Don’t worry.” 

Deli is the second most important thing in Tweeks life, cat or not, he always felt the need to stay strong for her. She played a key role in bringing him out of a very deep depression a long time ago. Tweek can’t help but think back on the day he first met Deli. 

It was two weeks after he had moved in. As was normal back then, he was hiding in his room, lights on and under the covers with tears streaming down his face. He didn’t understand anything that was going on. He’d been moved around so many times in the eleven months prior to ending up at Anne’s home. So many times that he’d even missed his parents, as horrible as they were. It was so petrifying, so debilitating, being thrown from one place to another. Every person he came in contact with would tell him it was all okay now, but despite what they would tell him in the beginning, they would quickly change their mind and get rid of him. 

On the day marking his being there with Anne for two weeks; the door to his room swung open, making him flinch. Anne stepped over to the bed, causing it to creak beneath her weight when she sat at the end. The covers were being gently pulled away from him, slowly, but either way he would soon be exposed. He didn’t want anyone else to see him like this. To scream, telling him to get over it and act like a normal child. Then throw him away because he couldn’t. 

‘Please not again.’ He’d curled up tighter, trying desperately to cover his tear soaked eyes as his protective layer was being taken away. ‘Please don’t do this. Don’t look at me. I can’t stop it. I try to not jump, or scream, twitch or cry, to want to live. I try but I can’t. Just please, don’t throw me away too.’ After his seventh family, Tweek had began chanting this in his head every time he knew it was all over again. He wish he had the guts to say it out loud, then maybe they would help him.. But he never did. 

He laid there on the bed, waiting to be told he’d be leaving soon. Time passed yet nothing was happening. No one yelled or told him to sit up. No one grabbed him by the collar and told him to start packing. No one told him how messed up of a kid he was. No one said... anything. 

Instead, he felt the hand of the woman called Anne rub his back in slow, soft circles. He wasn’t sure why, but he cried even harder because of this, like a newborn baby. This continued for what felt like hours, until there was nothing left. When he finally moved, he noticed his hair was stuck to the side of his face and his sleeves were covered in snot. His chest and throat hurt as he moved. Even his red eyes ached when he finally looked up. The woman sitting next to him on the bed, still rubbing his back in the same gentle way, had tears running down her face too.

She looked just as pained as he felt. Her other hand quickly pressed against her lips which had been trembling. She didn’t say a word as she looked forward, away from him, her hand still moving. He felt like he was doing this to her. Like he was so fucked up that it had finally caused someone else to break down too before they told him the news: He’d be leaving soon. He wanted to tell her he was sorry that he caused this and he’d go ahead and sit outside. He’d long stopped unpacking his things, it made things easier. But.. The words wouldn’t come out. 

Anxiety started to take a hold of him. He need to hide again and quickly. He was way too exposed! As if she could read his mind, a soft clean blanket was draped over him. He closed his eyes as she left, chanting to himself. 

About ten minutes later she walked back in causing his heart rate to rise once more. She didn’t stay for very long, and placed something light on the bed before closing the door behind her. The light ‘item’ began to move scaring the mess out of him. With no other options, he poked his head out from under the blanket. Before him stood a fluffy white kitten. The pink collar around her neck adorned a small nametag. “D-Delilah?” Her ears perked at the sound of her name. He removed his arm from the covers, reaching out. “Can I.. Ah, p-pet you?” She purred at the sight of his hand and rubbed her head against it.

A box that had ‘Tweeks Pet’ written on the side was set beside the bed, full of cat necessities and toys, along with a note. He grabbed the note and reads: 

‘Take all the time you need.  
I’m a little scared too.  
But we’ll figure this out together.’

For the first time in eleven months, he smiled.

Thinking back on that day calms him down. She understood him and loved him even at his worst. So no matter what, she’d never make him go. He got a mom and now he’s getting a brother. His family is going to grow! This is going to be great.

The front door opens prompting him to get up and race to the bathroom. He checks his face, making sure no one could tell he’d just been distressed while his mom calls for him. “I’m coming!” It’s been two days with the paperwork and driving so he can’t wait to see her. In the kitchen she’s setting down takeout from an Italian place onto the table. “Tweek! Oh I’ve missed you so much.” She hugs him tightly and kisses his cheek. He’s a little embarrassed, knowing there’s a guy around his age here, watching the exchange.

The boy, his new big brother, was leaning against the counter. He had black hair and blue eyes just like in the picture his mom showed him. What the picture didn’t show was how tall he was and how he was a little bit bigger than him. Not that it’s surprising. Tweek is very thin anyway and guesses that Craig has about five inches on him at least, which is a little excessive though. Craig is just plain tall. Besides that he has a few piercings but nothing else he can distinguish right off the bat.

“I ate already sweetheart, and I have to go to work tomorrow, so I need to go get ready and get some sleep. You two dig in and get to know each other okay.” His mom retreats to her room leaving them alone together. Tweek sighs and grabs two forks and plates, handing a set to Craig. They scoop up some pasta and garlic bread, eating in silence. Tweek likes how quiet it is but knows that not saying anything is rude. The pressure of trying to figure out something to say that doesn’t sound idiotic or generic soon builds up, causing him to bounce his leg and chew his lip. 

“You spazzing out or something?” Craig stares over his fork full of food.

“No!” Tweek covers his mouth, surprised at how defensive he sounded. “Um, no..”

“Ok.” Craig continues eating paying the blonde no mind.

Tweek exhales and takes another bite of his food, staring down at his plate. This isn’t going well at all. He thought his mom would be around for a little while. At least then it wouldn’t be so awkward. Come on Tweek, think. “Are you sick? Your beds made if you wanna lay down.. I um, can bring you some medicine.”

“I’m not sick.” The raven haired boy stares at him as if confused. “Why would you think that?”

“Oh, ah..” Everything around him starts to feel so far away. This is the first time he’d ever heard Craigs voice. It’s a bit nasally so obviously he thought he may have a slight cold or something. “I’m sorry. I’m nervous. I don’t know.” Ugh, he said that much too fast.

“I’m just fucking with you. I know why.” He laughs, finishing up his plate and going for seconds. 

Tweek laughs nervously, picking at his food. At least Craig has a sense of humor, sort of.

“So you’re seventeen.” This doesn’t sound like a question at all, but it has to be. Unless Craig is some sort of deity that decides these things. 

“I will be in a two of months. Are you?” Seeing as he said the number, he should be.

“Yeah. Eighteen soon enough.” Craig says it in such a way that it makes him feel like he shouldn’t have asked. 

Don’t ask many questions, noted. 

Craig finishes up and goes to the bathroom. With nothing else to do and no appetite, Tweek goes ahead and cleans up after them. Making sure to put the leftovers in the fridge in case Craig wants more. His mom comes back wearing a purple robe and towel on her head. “How was the food?” She looks around noticing one person missing. “Where’s Craig?”

“He just went to the bathroom. It was pretty good, mom. And Craig really liked it. I mean, he ate almost all of it anyway.” He wanted her to feel like things were going good so he told the truth, but just in a way that made it sound as if it were an enjoyable experience. 

“Well. Give me the deets.” She smiles like a child trying to fit in with the big kids. “How do you like him?”

Tweek looks at his feet, trying to think of something good to say. “I don’t dislike him. But, ah, I don’t know him yet.”

She shakes her head knowingly. “I know he’s a little quiet, but I think you can help him out with that. He’s a good kid, Sweetheart. Once you two spend some time together, I know you’ll just love having him here. We just have to make him feel welcomed.” He absorbs her words as she pats him on the back.

Dinner was hard enough but he’ll try harder just for her. “Sure thing mom.” 

Craig walks in slowly, a tired look on his face. 

“There he is.” Their mom hugs him without a second thought. Which looks very odd to Tweek. With Craig’s height compared to hers and the way he’s just standing there with his arms dangling to his sides, along with his unchanged facial expression, is just weird. Then again, he does look utterly exhausted. “I just wanted to say goodnight you two. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.” After giving them one last smile she returns to her room.

“Where’s my room?” Craig walks to the entrance where he left several bags, throwing one over his shoulder. 

“I guess she forgot to tell you.” She had been doing a ton of things the past few days, it’d be easy to look over something so simple compared to everything else. “The contractors are still working on it so your bed’s in my room for now. Sorry.”

Craig doesn’t give a damn. He just wants a place to throw his shit. “Lead the way.”

Tweek picks up a bag and shows him to the room. The dark haired boy sits his bags beside the unused bed and pulls his jacket off, glancing around Tweeks room.

“You look kind of tired, I’ll be quiet if you wanna go ahead and sleep.”

“This is just my face.”

Why is being nice so freaking hard! He keeps messing up over and over again. “Wanna play a game then?” He points to his playstation, hoping they could play the awkward away.

“Sure.”

“Okay.” Craig’s not making this easy, but he also doesn’t seem to be going out of his way to make it hard or anything. Tweek hands over a controller and sits on his bed. Craig follows suit, sitting beside him. 

The raven boy stretches out his legs and props up against Tweeks pillows as though it were his own bed. Tweek pretends he had no interest in laying back and ends up sitting indian style while waiting for the game to load. 

An hour into the game and Craig has yet to make a single sound, let alone talk. Tweek pauses for a restroom break. When he returns and sits Craig finally speaks up. “Why don’t you tell me to move? I won’t but still. You haven’t said a damn thing about it.”

How exactly is he supposed to respond to that? He said it himself that he won’t move anyway. “I-I was trying to be nice. It isn’t a big deal.” It’s as if Craig is testing him.

Craig rolls his eyes, possibly the first real expression he’s made since getting here, and pulls Tweek by the shirt until he lands partially on his lap. The blonde tries to move over, to make enough room beside him at least, but Craig isn’t having it. “What’s the big deal? Sit.”

“This is.. I can’t sit like this!” 

“Whatever.” He lets Tweek go only to pull him easily over his right leg, having him sit between his legs. “Better?”

“N-no. What is this? How.”

“Shut up, lean back, and play the game.” So Craig has no boundaries apparently. This is so weird. Sure this is his big brother now, but they aren't eight and they just met! While he’s stressing out, Craig notices the cat tree in the corner of the room. “You have a cat?’

The way he asked that was so different than the way he’s spoken so far and it doesn’t go unnoticed. “Yeah! She’s around here somewhere.” He puts a little too much excitement into his words but whatever, Craig seems interested and this could possibly break the weird wall between them. 

“What’s her name?”

“Delilah, but I call her Deli. You can call her either.”

“Mm.” He looks towards the opened door. “What’s she look like?”

“She’s really fluffy, with all white fur, and bright blue eyes. She’s not a kitten anymore but she’s just as spry as ever half the time.” If there’s anything Tweeks good at talking about, it’s his baby girl.

Craig smirks, sort of. It’s a very small change but as far as Tweeks concerned, it’s the best thing that’s happened all week. “Animals don’t lie.” 

Tweek repeats that statement in his head multiple times. He ultimately knows the basic meaning behind it, but there could always be a more specific.. Well, a reason why he should pretend he didn’t hear it. “What’s your favorite animal?”

“I like all of em. Never had one though.”

“So then, if you could, what would you get as a pet?”

“Pft. One of everything. But that’s stupid so maybe a dog. Or something small like a hamster, guinea pig, chinchilla, small things are cute but dogs are loyal ya know.” Craig’s a little put off by how much he’s said.

Happy with how well the conversation is going, Tweek perks ups. “I don’t think that’s stupid. Like, um, people have farms right? With a lot of animals.. Chickens, pigs, cows, barn cats, all of that.. Ahh…” Now he just feels stupid, telling someone older than him a list of farm animals. “B-but right now you have Deli. You’ll love her.”

“A farm, Yeah.. Maybe.” He shrugs looking back at the screen. “What are you doing after this?” All of the interest in his voice from before is completely gone.

“What do you mean?”

Craig lays back, staring at the ceiling. “When it’s over, when you’re own your own.”

“Oh like when I’m an adult? Um uh. College I guess. I-I don’t know what for.” Looking to the side he whispers. “It’s too much pressure, thinking that far ahead.”

It looks as if Craig’s trying to hold something in, maybe laughter, but anger fills his eyes. “Ok.”

“Yeah..” He bites his lip, trying to figure out where he went wrong. “What about you?”

“I don’t have dreams.” There’s no change in his face despite the words flowing from his mouth. “There’s no real future.”

The things Tweek’s hearing is disturbing to him. It makes him feel sad and a little hopeless as well. Without realizing it he bites down too hard, nipping his cheek causing him to wince in pain.

“Sup?”

“Bit my cheek.”

Craig only hums in response.

A sigh is extremely close to leaving Tweeks mouth. It might not seem like much, but every word that’s left his mouth, every thought going through his head, and every bit of hope he’s gained only to lose it at has been so mentally and physically draining. He knew this wouldn’t be easy as soon as he met Craig but it’s like he’s making it as hard as he can on purpose now. It feels like he’s letting his mom down. 

“What’s with the face you’re making?” 

Unable to control it, he flinches away from Craigs voice. “I don’t know. This is just my face.” His voice is starting to tremble. He counts to ten forwards and backwards then closes his eyes to try and block out all the stressers around him. 

“That’s my line.” Craig grumbles something under his breath. “It’s cute.”

“W-what?!!”

This time it’s Craig that flinches. “Warn me before you yell next time.” He sits up, rubbing his temples. 

Tweek’s not sure how the hell he’s supposed to know how to give warnings for sudden outbursts, but that isn’t the issue. “What are you saying??”

“You. Are. Cute. And don’t fucking yell. Do you have aspirin or something?” His eyes are closed, hands still on his head.

“............I’ll be right back.” Tweek takes the chance to literally run off to the medicine cabinet. When there he grabs what he needs and leans against the wall. “Why would he make fun of me like this? He must hate me so much. You don’t just.. You don’t say that to your brother!” He slides down the wall, shaking the bottle, focusing in on the sound of the pills hitting the sides and nothing more. He can’t let everything fall apart on the very first day. He has to pull himself together fast. Delilah walks past the door reminding him he isn’t alone in the house. He has to get back to his room with the medication before Craig wonders what he’s been doing.

He stands up and slaps his cheeks. Here we go, one more try. Time to get himself together once and for all. Even if things aren’t going the way he imagined, he’ll just have to go with it until it does. Ready, set, go! 

He makes his way, albeit slowly, back to his room, handing over the meds along with a bottle of water from his mini fridge. 

“Thanks.”

“Yeah.” Tweek takes a pillow from Craigs bed to his own, using it to help him sit up beside Craig. “You get headaches a lot?”

“Yeah.” Craig flips over, burying his face under the pillow. He keeps talking but from his position everything sounds like a long muffled grumble. 

Tweek wants to help but knows there’s nothing else he can do. They stay this way for awhile. Tweek tries to focus in on the television, but keeps reaching out, his hand hovering over the other boys back. He feels like he should let Craig know he’s sorry that he’s in pain and wishes he could do more. In the end, he keeps pulling away, staring back as if he wasn’t having an internal struggle. 

“Fuck it.” Craig sits back up squinting towards the light of tv. He moves so his arm is flush to Tweeks side. “You’re really fucking short.”

Tweek laughs nervously, afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. “I hadn’t thought about it that much until today.” He digs into his pocket for an anxiety toy. Today is like a cruel test on all his coping abilities. He starts pushing on the buttons in a rhythmic pattern.

“Gonna tell me why you ran?” A long arm slithers past Tweeks back, holding him to Craig as if to let him know he better not leave again. “When I called you cute.”

“I didn’t run..”

Craig lays his head against the blonds, closing his eyes again. “Liar.” His head was still killing him but to hell with it. They would be going to bed soon anyway.

“Ughhaah.” Tweeks entire body begins to itch. Not a normal itch that can just be scratched for relief. It was deep within his body, unreachable and unbearable causing him to pull at his hair. “Why do you keep saying weird things??”

Craig pulls one of Tweeks hands away from his scalp, keeping hold of it. “I thought honesty was a good trait. Or am I wrong?”

“Uh.. N-no. I’m just so confused. Are you making fun of me?” His other hand still tugged on a lock of his hair.

“No.”

“Then I don’t get it! I don’t understand!” Despite his words and tone, he’d made sure to keep his voice down the entire time. Keeping Craigs headache in mind.

Craig sighs into Tweeks hair, causing the itch to spread even deeper. “Whatever shorty.” He pulls the blonds other hand away. “Stop doing that.”

“I can’t okay!”

“You look like a mess now.” He pulls Tweek so that he’s sitting between his legs again. “You have blonde hair. Your shirt is brown.” He combs through Tweeks mangled hair with his fingers. “You’re short. Your breathing changes often. And I think you’re cute. These are facts. Get it now?”

Tweek stays quiet for a long time, thinking it over. “Thank you.” It’s a strange thing to say to your new brother but it’s possible that Craig is just really straightforward and speaks his mind in a different type of way. The only way to tell is with time.

“Yeah.” He finishes fixing Tweeks hair and smirks. “You’re gonna be a fun one.” 

“A fun..What?”

“Nothing.” His grin doesn’t slip, making Tweek feel uneasy. “So Anne, she strict?”

“Um. I don’t think so.”

“You’ve lived here for years but don’t know?”

“I don’t know just.. As long as it’s not stupid or bad then she’s okay with it. Um, you can go wherever, just let her know and keep your phone.” He’s really never thought about it before. 

“Okay. We’ll see.”

“Wha-What does that mean?!”

Craig clasps a hand over Tweeks mouth. The blonde gasps at how cold it is, borderline freezing. “I said keep it down.” 

“Sorry.” Tweek removes his hand and takes a deep breath.

“Psh, stupid shit.” His chilly hand finds its way around Tweeks middle, pulling him closer.

Tweek does his best to not freak out. The toy in his hand may break soon due to how hard he’s hitting the buttons. “Mom doesn’t really like constant swearing.” This is something he’s noticed Craig does a little too much for his mother's liking.

The taller boy begins cackling. “Mom? You’re a lost cause.”

“What?.. No, I’m not. What do you even mean?” His voice is close to a screech yet again but he doesn’t care. He just wants to understand what’s going through the other boys head.

“Forget it for now.” It’s his first day here, may as well give it time before he tells Tweek how things really go down. “Come sleep in my bed tonight.” The words leave his mouth so naturally, like he’s asking for someone to pass him the gravy during dinner.

“We’re brothers!”

“In no way are we brothers Tweek. Think about it for a millisecond, damn.” He rubs his head not only from pain, but also frustration. “What you are, is my type.” He pulls Tweeks face up a little forcefully. “So shut the fuck up with that shit for a minute.” He bends down, kissing Tweek gently despite his harsh demeanor. It’s not a long, sexual kiss. It’s more like a young couples very first kiss. Quick but just as impactful. Memorable.

“You’re cold.” Tweeks brain can’t keep up anymore. He has no idea what to say or do. 

Craig moves away just enough to allow Tweek to continue speaking, if he even wants too.

“We can’t-”

“Yeah we can. It just happened.” 

“You don’t know me! And I’ve tried really hard but I don’t know you either!! I’ve tried but you’re impossible! Mmph.” Craig covers the smaller boys mouth before his yelling wakes Anne up.

“You don’t need to. Now tell me you didn’t like that and leave the ‘family’ bullshit out of it.” 

This feels like a trap. Like Craigs doing this just to turn it all around and make him out to be a disgusting piece of crap. To make fun of him, just like he’s been thinking this entire time. “W-we don’t know each other.” His voice has become much quieter. He’s afraid to speak.

“I didn’t ask that did I? I said you’re my type and then I kissed you, it has nothing to do with what your favorite candy is, what movies you like, or if you play sports. You don’t need to know me to figure out if you liked it or not.” He moves so that he’s sitting straight up rather than leaning on the pillows. The difference makes Tweek feel so much smaller.

“I’ve never..” A tear streams down his face. “I’ve never done that! So, so I don’t know! J-just. No matter what you say it isn’t ok.”

“You haven’t said no so you did. And I’d say I’m sorry but I’m not.” He forces Tweek to look at him. “Get to know me, if it’s that big of a deal. Not that I’m going to stop.” Craig stands up, looming over the blond. He pulls him close one last time, kissing his cheek then whispering in his ear. “Night cutie.”

The lights turn off and Tweek watches as Craig crawls into his own bed and begins snoring as if nothing happened at all. His hands are still shaking and his heart is beating out of his chest. He can’t tell his mother about this. She’s been visiting Craig for so long, telling Tweek how she couldn’t wait for him to finally be a part of their family. So what is there to do? 

The only thing he knows for sure, is that Craig was right about one thing. And that one thing, wasn't right.


	2. Vulnerable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Attention**  
> This day was suppose to only be mentioned, not written out.  
> So think of this as a super small, bonus chapter.  
> Happy Holidays~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read chapter summary.

Tweek slowly rises, eyes blurry, and in a daze. He sits up with a yawn, digging his toes into the plush carpet. He had the absolute worst dream ever last night. He wasn’t absolutely positive on the details, but he did know it had something to do with his brother. Whatever it was, he hoped it wasn’t a bad omen of what's to come today.

He stands and stretches, popping his back in the process. Today he was going to finally meet Craig. He needs to get the house ready along with himself more than anything. Best to start the day with a shower. He drags his feet across the carpet, still half asleep, and reaches for the door handle when something moves within his peripherals. A leg pops out of the bed meant for his brother, a loud snore following closely behind.

Startled beyond belief, Tweek screams at the top of his lungs wanting to run but unable to move. In a matter of seconds his mom dashes through the door in a panic. “Tweek what’s wrong? What happened?” She places her hands on his shoulders, looking him over. 

“Everything..real..what..” Tweek tries to catch his breath as the events of the previous day come back to him. 

“Tweek, I need you to breathe. Take a deep breath and talk to me.” His mother rubs his arms reassuringly. “Have you been taking your medicine?”

“Stop chasing the damn chickens I’m trying to sleep.” Craig mumbles, stirred by the noise but unaware of the events currently taking place. 

If her son weren’t acting in such a manner, Anne would have giggled at how adorable Craig looked right now. “I’m ok mom.. I just.. I saw a spider, sorry.”

“Oh Sweetheart.” She hugs him, relieved that nothing was seriously wrong. “Grab the broom, it’ll show up again sooner or later.” She releases him, moving back towards the door. “Why don’t you take Craig with you to town today? Show him around a little. Maybe he’ll help you out with that spider too.”

“Yeah.. That sounds like a good idea. I will mom.”

“Have a good time Sweetie, I’ll see you after work.”

Tweek watches as his mom leaves the room and grabs her purse. He waits for the sound of the door locking behind her before sinking down to the floor in a puddle of despair. What he thought had been a bad dream wasn’t a dream at all. Yesterday really happened. Craig was already here, sleeping in his room. 

He eyes Craigs silhouette. Looking at him now makes it hard to believe he’d acted the way he had the day before. He looks like a kid, mouth open and snoring away, oblivious to Tweeks current train of thoughts. 

The blonde had stayed up for a long time last night. Craigs attitude and declarations of not only having no intentions of being a family, but more so that he thought Tweek was cute, messed with his brain. He couldn’t believe that he kissed him and twice at that. What would his mother think? What had she seen in Craig in the first place? He acted so standoffish yesterday.. The more he thought about it that night, the harder he cried. 

The blonde stares back up at his brother, sadness in his eyes. Maybe Craig just had a bad day. Either way, there was a new day ahead of them and time wasn’t going to stop or rewind just because he wanted it to. 

He stands back up and and removes a pill from each bottle, just like he does every other morning and swallows them with a swig of water. “I can do this, I have to.” He reassures himself while carefully grabbing a change of clothes. 

After his shower he contemplates on whether or not to have breakfast or just wait until they go out. There aren’t many things to do in town, so they could at least eat while they’re out. It’s almost 9:03, meaning Craig needed to get up if he wants to shower and change so they can leave before the workers come. Taking a deep breath he pops his head into the bedroom. Craig’s still sound asleep, how wonderful. This means he’ll have to try and wake him up, not knowing how he’ll react.

He stands beside the bed and shakes his shoulder gently. “Craig.. Wake up.” Tweek sighs at his lame attempt. He’ll never wake him up if he whispers. “Craig it’s time to get up!” His eyes widen and his chest flips. Jesus Christ did he just yell?!

“Wha?”

"Uh. It’s time to wake up.” He can’t believe he shouted like that. He can’t start his day out like this, it’s bad for his nerves. 

“Cows.. Walumm.. Eat it.” 

“Weren’t you talking about chickens earlier?” Tweek wonders if he was dreaming of animals because of their conversation yesterday. “Hey get up. The construction workers will be here soon.” He gives the boy another shake, causing him to turn over. 

“Fuck no why?” Craig whines in protest while protecting his eyes from the light with his hand.

“So you can have your own room..”

“Not what I- Ugh forget it.” Craig rises then points to a bag next to the foot of his bed. “Get it.”

Either Craig isn’t very polite or he just isn’t a morning person. The blonde tries to give him the benefit of the doubt, deeming him a grumpy waker for the time being. He picks up the bag and hands it over. Craig unzips it, pulling out the first few pieces of clothing without looking then crawls out of bed, leaving the room. At least he listened. 

Tweek decides to take this free time to go over a few anxiety exercises. Not only would he be with Craig, he’d be out around other people, in the open. This is just asking for a disaster to happen, but his mom has a point. Craig needs to learn the lay of the land and they need to spend time together.

First he takes his blue pill, it can help him long enough to get used to being out. He puts another in his pocket then takes it back out. He stares at the tiny tablet in his hand and all the power it holds within it. He can’t keep relying on a pill to solve his problem. He needs to figure out a way to cope on his own sometimes too. After putting it back in its bottle, he sits on his bed and works on controlling his breathing. Once he’s at a nice, steady pace, he repeats the same mantra silently in his head. “I’ll be ok. My mind might tell me that people are staring, but they aren’t. I’m not a celebrity, they don’t care about me. Just relax and focus on what I’m doing, not them.” He repeats this ten times then moves on to the next. “If I panic it’s ok. I can breathe. It’s happened before. I won’t die. My brain is a liar. I’m the one in control.” 

Once he’s said this ten times as well, he opens his drawer designated for anxiety toys and distractions. It’s filled to the brim with all sorts of things he’s tried. He opts for one that won't stand out too much in public. It looks like a gray usb drive. There’s one button on top, a small textured wheel in the middle, and a slider on the bottom. It’s nothing fancy, but he doesn’t want anything flashy to draw attention. He shoves it in his pocket and leaves the room.

Craig passes him then returns with his jacket and shoes on. “Now what?” He spots Deli and scuttles over to her, giving her a few pets. “Hey baby girl.” She meows as if she’s saying hello to him too. He looks like a different person, talking to and petting her. 

This is the first time Craig’s actually seen her so he decides to take in the scene for a bit before answering. “I guess we can go get breakfast. If you’re hungry?”

“You finally say something worth listening to.” Craig pushes past him and walks out the door. When Tweek grabs his keys and follows he sees Craig leaning against the car.

He really doesn’t want to piss him off but, “We’re walking today..”

“Why?” He pushes off the car but doesn’t move. “Do you people not understand the point of cars either?”

Tweeks shoulders begin to droop without him even realizing. “Um.. It’s a small town so. I thought maybe we could walk around and.. I don’t know.” He’s losing his will to even try. The idea’s beginning to sound stupid to himself the more he speaks. 

Craig groans but not for the reason Tweek thinks. Suddenly Craigs freezing hands are on him, straightening his stance back to the way it should be. “Stop trying so damn hard. I won’t be here long enough for you to give a fuck anyway.” He rolls his eyes and proceeds in the direction of the town.

Tweek wants to say that he can be here. That he will if he would just listen, but before he can Craig turns back, stops him, and bends down. “But if you want to make me happy so bad, you know what I really want.” He gives Tweek a peck on the forehead and grins. “Morning Peep.” He continues on towards town while Tweek covers his head and wipes furiously, like it’ll make the situation disappear along with the feeling. 

It isn’t going to. It happened again and he can’t change that. Today he needs to keep himself together for the sake of his family. So even though he’s worried and reluctant, he follows after Craig.

“How uh, how long are you staying then?” If convincing him won’t work right now, he at least wants to learn what he can. He also tries to keep Craigs ever changing attitude in mind when asking questions. He has no idea what caused him to go from one mood to another when they talked last night. 

“Nine months max.” Criags voice has gone completely flat. That’s oddly specific as most people would likely say ‘about a year’. Tweek’s glad that he answered but knows not to push it.

“It’s down this street.” They turn left down a street with small shops and a restaurant. Craig seems to walk faster the closer they get. Craigs stride is already much faster than Tweeks, with their height difference, so keeping up is next to impossible.

By the time he catches up Craig’s already sitting down and looking at page three of the menu. Once again, either Craig is ill mannered or just genuinely very hungry. If last night was any indication, Craigs stomach is a bottomless pit. So Tweek decides to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

They make their orders and sit back, the blonde having no idea what to do in order to fill the void between now and when the food arrives. Craig doesn’t seem to care at all but Tweek can’t take it today. “What’s peep?” He mentally kicks himself for asking about something that has a connection to Craigs so called affection. 

Craig smirks with a look of interest for the first time today. “You look like a baby chicken.” Tweek stiffens as he leans over the table and runs a hand through his hair. “Peep peep.” Craig is undoubtedly entertained. Tweek hasn’t a clue whether this is good, bad, funny, awful, or whatever else. No matter what it is, he’s terribly self conscience right now. He wishes he had the power of invisibility in this moment. 

He sinks down into his booth and grabs the alcohol menu, suddenly very interested in drinks he can’t even order. 

By the time their food comes, Tweek is relatively ok. His plate consists of two pancakes and bacon while Craig’s looks as though he ordered every breakfast menu item that exists. They eat in a welcomed silence, taking their time. 

“I don’t have money.” Craig announces as he’s finishing his plate. “We dashing?”

“What?! Of course not!” Tweek closes his eyes and sinks back into his booth once again. If he’s going to make it through today, he needs to watch his volume and anticipate Craig suggesting or doing weird things. “No.”

“You have cash?”

“Yeah. You’ll get yours when it comes. So I’ll pay.. No dashing.”

Craig gives him a weird look. “What the hell.”

“What?” Tweek asks while placing the cash along with a tip in the booklet. 

“Nothing.”

They leave the restaurant and walk around town. Tweek points out places Craig might want to visit in the future. He finds this to be relatively enjoyable. They don’t need to have a full on conversation since Craig is looking around and Tweeks need to say something is filled when he speaks up about one of the businesses.

They come by a bench near the bank and take a seat. Tweek couldn't be happier for the small break. Keeping up with Craig is a workout. 

“You’d let an elephant shit on you if it asked nicely, wouldn’t you?” Craig’s staring at him now. The same way he had last night.

“Why would I do that?”

“Exactly.” The boy stretches out, still watching Tweek. “Your programming’s fucked.”  


Tweek isn’t sure where Craig is going with any of this. He isn’t exactly normal to society's standards but this feels a bit harsh. “I’m doing ok.”

“Hardly. But you’ll be lost soon.”

He knows questions are a bad idea. He knows he probably won’t even get a real answer, but he doesn’t know what else to say. “What’s wrong with me?”

Craig seems a little surprised by his words, but continues nonetheless. “You put your trust in the wrong people.”

“Why? Who should I trust?”

He twirls a strand of Tweeks hair in his fingers. “I’ll ask you that soon enough. You should know by then.”

The more that’s being said, the more lost Tweek becomes. He already knows who he trusts and why, he just wanted to see what Craig would say. He never expected him to turn it around on him and make it as if everything is going to change drastically. 

“Anyway. I was walking too fast.” He stands up and waits for Tweek to do the same. “Tell me to slow the hell down. Speak up.”

They’re nearing the end of the road when the frantic movement of blue causes Tweek to stop his train of thought and look through a dessert shop window. His friend, Butters, smiles and waves, asking him to come inside. He looks up at Craig to see what he’s thinking. He just shrugs and goes inside ahead of him. Without asking he sits down across from Butters, not that the boy minds at all. 

“Well hi fellas.”

Tweek sits next to Craig, wanting to apologize for his rude actions.

“Hey Butters. When did you get back?” Butters is basically Tweeks best friend. Even when Tweek first came to town, he not once made fun of him. Just having one kid show kindness towards him had helped him believe he could go on. That he wasn’t all alone in school, where most people laughed.

“Just last night. I almost got grounded for being late.” He explains and thanks the waitress for his freshly made sundae. “Oh geez where’s my manners. Hi I’m Butters.” He offers his hand in Craigs direction.

Craig watches him, amused at his formal way of greeting but more so by the way he talks. He eventually extends a fist to which Butters pats gently three times in response. Craig has absolutely no control over the laughter that escapes him. “I’m-” He does what he can to stop the laughter but seriously, was this kid even real? “Craig.”

Tweek wants to smash his head repeatedly against the table. His friends just.. He doesn’t even know what he just did. He wants to blame Craig for not just shaking his hand but even Craig couldn’t have anticipated that. There’s no explanation for this at all. The only thing he can do is hope that Butters thinks nothing of it. 

“It sure is nice to meet you Craig.”

“Yeah.” Craigs laughters slowly dying down, but not fast enough for the blonde to feel comfortable again. Tweek wants this to stop so badly.

There’s food here and it’s been about two hours since they’d eaten. If he was a betting man.. “Do you want something to eat?”

The raven boy picks up the small menu and skims through. “What’re you getting?”

Tweek’s stunned that Craig’s asking him an actual question. He avoids sugar during stressful situations though. Caffeine and sugar always make his anxiety so much harder to control. “Nothing, but go ahead.”

“Why not?”

He doesn’t want to explain the science of it. Even the dumb explinations always seems to translate to either: “I’m a freak” or “I’m just one of those people that a super special so give me attention” after people listen. Instead he decides that ordering something small and taking a bite or two won’t do much harm. “Nevermind, I am.”

Craig gives him a weird look but doesn’t ask anymore questions. Tweek orders a mini chosen cheesecake parfait while Craig opts for a lava cake with swirled ice cream on the side. The older boy chows down while the other two catch up. Craig adds something here and there, but he just doesn’t seem to be much of a talker. He does seem to act nicer when eating though, which Tweek burns into his memory. 

On the flip side, it also seems to make him more ‘playful’. He begins discreetly pulling Tweek by the belt loop closer to him, inch by inch until their sides touch. At first the blonde tries to fight it but quickly finds that it only makes Craig enjoy it more. Butters hasn’t asked anything about Craig other than his name, but even so, he’ll know soon enough. He doesn’t look like he’s noticed anything. If he has he's keeping it to himself. Tweek guesses he hasn't noticed at all since Butters doesn’t tend to pay attention to the little things. That little bit of reassurance doesn’t keep him from turning pink though. He reaches into his pocket and counts each time he turns the circle to his mini toy completely around.

“Try this.” Craig waves his spoon in front of Tweek.

“Oh. Uh, no. I’m full.” He lies, guessing this is a dirty trick.

“Open up or I’ll open it for you.”

Tweek startles and looks at Craig with wide eyes. “Ok ok!” He does his best to control himself then opens his mouth ever so slightly. 

Craig slips the spoon between his lips and watches as he chews. “Good shit. We need to come back here sometime.”

This is the first time Craig has seemed interested in the thought of doing anything with him. Tweek doesn’t have the heart to tell him that it probably won’t be anytime soon. “Y-yeah, we should.” As Tweek leans back into his seat he realizes that Craig took the opportunity to place his arm behind him, enough that he was now technically holding him. 

The blondes vision goes blurry, he’s a little nauseous, and he can barely keep his breathing in check. The voices around him are so loud and muffled. ‘No, no, no!’ He gets angry with himself and takes a deep breath, tuning into one sound at a time until the world around him feels somewhat normal again. 

“Ready?”

“Huh?” Tweek looks around. Butters and Craig already have their jackets back on. How long had he been like that?

“To go. Your friend’s paying.” Craig pulls him up and hands him his coat. 

“Yeah, thanks.” He pulls it on and tells Butters thank you as they pass him by.

They leave the restaurant and begin walking back the way they came. “You do that often?”

Tweek knows exactly what he’s asking about. There’s no point in trying to pretend. “I didn’t know.. I’m sorry.”

He gets no response which is what he prefers over anything else. This doesn’t stop him from imagining what he may have looked like or what Craig thought of him now. They continue on in silence, making it three streets up when his hands start to shake and his legs begin to feel like jello; completely useless. 

“Oh no.” He ate it all, he hadn’t meant to, but he ate it. That plus all of Craigs little jokes is starting to get to him. The anxiety is starting to set in.. More than what he can handle out here in the open. He needs to get somewhere private and try to fight it away or else he’s going to have a panic attack. “I.. I have to go.”

He doesn’t look back at Craig or even care where he is. He needs to get away. If he doesn’t people will see and they’ll make fun of him. He jogs, almost at a full blown run, until he finds a spot behind a small general store. He leans against the bricks and pulls out the only thing he has, his small usb shaped toy. He just needs to focus in on this and block out all the negative thoughts. 

He keeps telling himself he’s fine but the coping skills he’s learned are all flying out the window at this point. He shakes his hand in frustration as if he can shake the panic away. A tear leaves the corner of his eye. He knows. He knows that it’s too late, it’s going to happen. He grabs his head wishing it all away. “No, no, no, no, no.” He walks in a small circle, not knowing what to do with his body anymore. Tears begin to flow, not hard, not yet. But he’s horrified.

This is Craigs fault.

His body slides down the wall until he’s sitting with his knees tucked in front of him. He clicks away at his toy so hard that it breaks. “This can’t be happening. This just can’t.. It can’t happen.” His fingers slide against the cracked concrete. “Please no.”

It’s here. He’s right on the edge. His throat is beginning to feel tight. All of his control will soon be lost. He sees Craig’s shoes in his peripherals. “Go away! Just leave me alone! GO!!” He doesn’t want to be mean, but he can’t help it. He doesn’t want to be seen like this and he can’t explain that to Craig right now. Additionally, he knows that if Craig hadn’t put him through every bad situation today, he wouldn’t be like this.

It’s here. He can’t do anything anymore. He begins to gasp for air. Why is it so hard to breathe? Tears obscure his vision as he grabs around him. For what? He has no idea. But maybe, if he finds it, it’ll save him. “I don’t wanna die.” He reaches for his throat and coughs, making sure a little air is still getting through. His other hand pulls at the hair on the back of his neck. “Help me..” He cries harder, searching for air that doesn’t exist in his current world.

“You aren’t dying.”

He feels the presence of someone in front of him. Why does this person sound okay, but not him? He gasp harder, making his chest hurt. “Please… Make it.. Stop.”

“You have to do it so fucking snap out of it.”

It’s hard to hear clearly. None of his senses are working properly. He wipes at his eyes, trying to see the person in front of him. It’s Craig. Craig doesn’t care. Craig doesn’t even want to be his family. But right now, Craig is all he has. “Don’t let me die.” He goes into a coughing fit, grabbing at his chest. “I c-can’t breathe.” 

“You’re hyperventilating. Slow down.”

“NO!” He pushes Craig away. “M-my throat is closing up I-I can’t breathe!!” Why isn’t he listening? “Help me!” He can see Craig walk one way then the other, through blurry eyes. It hurts, it hurts so much.

“Fuck.” Craig leaves him. He knew he hated him. Now he’s going to die all alone. He begins to dry heave from all the tension he’s putting on his body. 

Tweek bends over onto his knees and leans forward, stretching his hand up and out, crying so hard it hurts. He falls forward, resting his other hand on the ground but not giving up on reaching for help. For that one thing that’ll save him. His body is shaking wildly. His face and fingers are tingling. His lips are nothing but pins and needles.

And.. Someone takes his hand. They force him to sit back against the wall a little harshly. Craig wipes the freshest of his tears away. “That shit you said this morning. Say it now.”

Tweek reaches out, grabbing Craigs arm. He doesn’t care if he hates him, he doesn’t want to die alone. 

“Say it Tweek!” 

He must have said it out loud this morning without realizing and Craig overheard him. 

“It doesn’t.. Matter.” He tries to speak between each puff and pant. “It’s d-different. This. Is isn’t a-a panic.. Attack. It’s.. real. I.. Not ok.”

“Shut up with that shit and say it. Now!” Craigs free arm, the one Tweek hasn’t grabbed onto for dear life, grabs onto his shoulder. Tweek feels like he’s going to pass out any second now. Like it’s all going to be over soon. “I’m real. You’re real. The ground you’re sitting on is real. But what you think is happening isn’t real, dumbass. You have to make it go away.”

“It is rea-” 

Craig pulls his face up to look at him. The look in Craigs eyes almost scares him as much as the feeling within his chest. “It’s not.” He tries to remember what Tweek said this morning. “I can breathe. Repeat.”

“I can.. Breathe.” But he can’t. This is a lie.

“I’m not going to die.”

“I’m.. n-not going.” He gasp for air, digging his fingernails unknowingly into Craigs arm. “To die!”  
Craig waits until he stops coughing to keep going. “My brains a liar, I’m in control.”

Tweek begins to cry like a child again. None of these things are true, he can feel it, but he still chokes the words out. His nails dig deeper, and his breathing is still too fast, but Craig can tell he’s finally going in the right direction. “I’ll be right back.” He snatches Tweeks wallet and starts to stand up.

“No!” Tweeks holds on with enough of his body weight to leave marks down Craigs arm. 

“Keep saying it.”

Craig’s gone. He left him. He has to say it though. It’s all a lie. He’s going to die this time. But he’ll keep saying it if it means Craig will come back. Being left here behind a store, all by himself.. “Come back..” His voice is almost a whimper.

A few minutes later, which seems like an eternity to Tweek, Craig returns and crouches down in front of him. “It’s so hot.”

Knowing the small boy probably really is hot due to all the stress his body was going through, he places the back of his hand against his neck. “Better?”

He shakes his head, repeating the sentences until his breathing begins to stabilize. 

Craig rips apart a small package then shoves something round and flat into his hands. “Do this thing.”

Tweek looks at the plastic piece in his hand. It’s one of those mazes in the shape of a circle, with a clown face in the middle, and three metal balls. The point is to get all three at the end of the maze. With shaky hands he tries moving the pieces in the right directions but drops it. He picks it back up, and it takes him awhile, but he’s able to do it. His eyes are tearfilled, but his breathing is back to normal. He glances at Craig who seems to be in his own little world, playing with his own maze. 

He needs to talk. “Why do you get the blue one?”

“Favorite color.” He never takes attention away from his maze. 

“So?” Tweek technically paid for the pack. He ultimately doesn’t care which one he has though, he just wants things to be normal again.

“So fuck you it’s mine.”

Craig’s acting like himself, at least from what Tweek knows about him. He hopes this means he won’t bring this up for laughs at some point.

He finishes the maze again and realizes how far Craig had gone for him. He yelled, he cursed, he was mean, pushy, and forceful. But he figured out what needed to be done and did it. He was himself the entire time.. And that made Tweek want to smile but he can’t. Craig probably saw it as a huge annoyance. Even more likely, Craig just didn’t want to be seen with a spaz like him, so he did what he had to in order to make Tweek stop. Whatever the reason, he’s glad it’s over, and hopes Craig will give him another chance. 

Tweek knew right before it happened that he would quietly forgive him. He doesn’t really have a choice but to forgive and forget, for his mom's sake. His own heart won’t let him take it out on Craig either. Inside, he knows that Craig couldn’t have anticipated this anyway. That is, unless his mother told him about these things already.. As a warning of sorts during one of their visits. It’s a possibility that she felt the need to explain it so Craig wouldn’t be shocked over it. 

That would mean that Craig sharing his desert was premeditated and his suggestion to visit again was a cruel joke. If that were true then why help him? No, he needed to stop allowing himself to fall down a rabbit hole. Craig isn’t like that, he’s just slightly aloof and that’s that.

He wipes away all the tears and sniffs hard, trying to keep his nose from running like a river. With nothing to blow his nose with, he had a bit of snot on his coat, but he was becoming much too tired to be embarrassed. As everything that happens to his body slowly goes away, the more exhausted he becomes. “Wanna go home?”

“To your house.” Craig corrects him but stands anyway. “I need a nap.”

For the first time today, they were on the same page. Tweek doesn’t bother checking the time, workers in the house or not, he was going to sleep.


	3. The power of 'Something'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A warped mind.  
> Insight on Craig.  
> When words and actions just don't fit.

Tweek rolls over in bed, kicking off the blanket and yawning in the process. He opens his eyes to someone sleeping in the bed across the room from him and jolts. It’s been over a week to waking up with Craig in his room, and he’s gotta give himself props for his quiet reactions lately. The first morning was a totally different story. When he’d woken up and walked to the door, Craigs leg moved causing Tweek to scream so loudly that his mom came running to see if he was okay. He was utterly embarrassed but at least Craig is a heavy sleeper and was completely unaware. The second time he jumped higher than should be humanly possible, landing straight on his butt in a loud thump.

He looks at Craig and reflects on the first three days. The first day threw him for a loop in more ways than he imagined was possible. That night he’d cried himself to sleep. He wondered what his mother saw in Craig, how their visits had gone, what made her want to adopt him. He thought about the way he hadn’t hugged her back after dinner, yet she paid no mind to it, acting as happy as ever about him moving in with them. How had he worked his way into her heart if he so blatantly rejected her? Was she blind to it or was she just too hopeful?

On Craigs second day living with them, they went around town on foot while the construction workers continued their work on the house. Tweek showed him around the most common go-to spots, as was suggested by his mom. This way he’d be more familiar with the area if he wanted to go out on his own. Butters spotted them from a dessert shop and ushered them in. Tweek was happy to have a friend around and hoped it would get Craig open up more, which wasn’t the case at all. He answered questions and wasn’t rude but added nothing substantial to the conversation. Not too long after they split, he had a panic attack. They went home after and didn’t talk about it but Craig told Tweek he was glad he didn’t end up living with Butters. It had something to do with the way Butters spoke, but either way it made Tweek feel a little better about himself. That is, until he added that Tweek is much cuter and fun to play with. 

The third day they went to the DMV to get Craigs license up to date. This truly gave Tweek hope. Only someone who wanted to be here would get their ID changed to a new state and address, right? Not that Craig did much. He handed the clipboard and his old ID over to Tweek and told him to fill it out while he layed back in his seat with his hood over his eyes and napped until his number was called. That night they ate dinner with ‘Tweeks Mom’ for the first time since he’d arrived. He was still against them being a family obviously, but more so against ever calling Anne his mom. 

The things Craig had said were true so far. He wasn’t going to leave him alone and still says it’s just because he’s his type. He hasn’t done anything in the open where his mom would see so that’s what counts the most. But when they’re alone, he knows something is going to go down, he just never knows what. This is the hardest part so far. Tweek wants so desperately to have a normal relationship with Craig but that can never be possible if he doesn’t stop acting in such a manner. The second day it was way too much for him, but since then he’s been able to endure it, hoping the older boy will become bored of it all. Even though Craig keeps it up, he seems to keep it to a level that Tweek can deal with since then.

He still refuses to be called his brother unless it’s under certain circumstances. If his mom says it, he won’t refuse it but also won’t necessarily accept it with a smile either. He does the same when around Butters as well. Besides Butters, he has yet to meet anyone else, not that Tweek really has many people to introduce him to. 

Tweek’s nowhere close to figuring him out yet, he knows that, but despite the way Craig presents himself, he believes there’s a decent person on the inside. Then again, he also feels like his biggest bully, Cartman, is just hurting on the inside so he takes it out on others.. And even he questions that conclusion. 

Tweek glances at the alarm clock; two minutes before it goes off. As construction keeps a steady pace, they continue to leave before it gets going and today would be no different. While Tweek is a morning person, Craig is not and could probably sleep right through it. If not, he’d more than likely leave his bed to yell at the workers to scram and go back to sleep. Actually, he seemed tired pretty often. Even though they get the same amount of sleep, Craig tends to rest a lot and take light naps. The alarm finally blares throughout the room. Tweek sits up and turns it off. 

“I’m sick.” Craig rolls over in bed, wrapping himself in the blankets. “Don’t wanna feed pigs today.” He trails off into a loud snore. 

“Pigs.” Tweek stifles a laugh and shakes the other boy. Every morning thus far Craig would go on about some sort of farm animal. It was something Tweek liked about Craig, it made him feel more human to him. “The only pig we have to feed is you. Get up.”

“No Church.” He grumbles, pulling the pillow over his head. 

“Are you even awake?” The blonde sits on the bed and tries tugging at the covers this time. “We have to get class registration over with today Craig, come on.”

Craig rises slowly, rubbing his eyes. He gets a look at who’s bothering him and frowns. “Peep?” This is one of many things Craig calls Tweek. He’d decided at some point that Tweek reminded him of a baby chicken, therefore Peep was born. Tweek doesn’t hate it, it’s much better than cutie anyway. He’d rather Peep slip up in front of others than that.

“Yeah?” 

“No.” He flops back down on the mattress and glares at the ceiling.

“But um, we have to go, like there’s no choice.” Tweek twiddles his thumbs searching for what might get him up easily. There’s only one surefire way to get Craig to move: His stomach. “What if I make breakfast?”

“..Options?”

“I think there's eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, toast, and enough flour to make pancakes or waffles, maybe enough veggies for an omelette too, I’m not sure.”

Craig yawns and hangs off the bed rifling through one of his bags. He pulls out a pair of jeans and a shirt. “All of it.” He stands, stretches, and wanders off towards the shower.

“Ok, all of it.” Tweek shakes his head in triumph and heads towards the kitchen, a big smile plastered to his face. “Wait, all of it?!!”

~~~~~

Steam rises from his skin, warm water dripping down his face as he leans forward in the shower. It’s nice having an untimed shower in a non communal bathroom. Just the ability to control the temperature of the water is a blessing. Craig smiles as the water beats down on him, but not for these reasons.

Everything he’s worked towards for the past four years was finally happening. As little progress as it is, it’s more than he thought he’d get. The older he’s become, the easier it’s been to realize this goal and move towards it. In the boys home he’d just come from, he was known as a ‘senior’, meaning with being seventeen, he was the oldest one there. 

Normally if you made it to the point of being sent there, you didn’t make it out. People wanted to adopt babies and if they couldn’t get their hands on one, they settled for younger children. The older you get the less desirable you become. This was like a double edged sword for Craig. When he was thirteen, and realized what he wanted to do, he was extremely small for his age which made him still somewhat wanted by people. This wouldn’t do, he had no idea how to get the information he needed yet, but he knew for sure that if he was adopted he would never find out. 

The older he became, the better he got at doing and saying what he needed to in order to stay where he was. At his current age of seventeen, it started to become normal for him to talk to the staff regularly. To stray from the kids and hang out with the adults. This was exactly what he needed. Using one of them through certain means, he was able to gain a little bit of information. It wasn’t much to go off of, but it was more than he had at the time and most likely all he would get. 

This is where being his age kicked him in the ass. He would never get as many people to look into him as he would have back in the day. Luckily though, for whatever reason, some people still showed an interest in him. None of them were ever right, it took one visit for him to learn what he needed, and he’d have it shut down immediately. Then came Anne. Though he didn’t share her intentions, he knew she would have to do.

He didn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t in order to be taken in by her. Putting on a happy go lucky facade for God knows how long wouldn’t bode well for anyone. Thankfully, she still visited him despite his personality. Now that he’s here, he’s hit another roadblock. There’s really nothing he can do.. For now he’ll have to just go out and live a somewhat normal life until he has something else to go on. The odds are against him, but he can’t give up.

As for Tweek, he initially thought the boy would be annoying and try to get rid of Craig. That’s obviously not the case here. He’s annoying in a different type of way, but in a way Craig can handle. The more he gets to know him, the less irritating he thinks of him. In some ways he really likes Tweek and thinks it’s a shame they didn’t meet another way. In others, he’s an idiot that won’t listen to reason. But unfortunately, he’s just another stepping stone, that’ll one day be a distant memory. 

He turns the shower off and rests his forehead against the wall, watching the water droplets form at the end of his nose and fall down towards the drain. Just like every wish, dream, and happiness he’s ever obtained, falling down into the darkness. 

~~~~~~

In the kitchen Tweek moves frantically from one task to another. Three different pans are on the stove, cooking the meat. The waffle maker filled with batter is overflowing. And a family sized electric griddle is filled with hash browns. Sizzles, pops, and splats take over the room.

The blonde is covered with flour on his face, oil splattered all over his apron, and even bacon grease in his hair from wiping away at the heat. He’s sitting on the floor with his legs spread, exhausted and overwhelmed with a bowl full of ingredients for omelettes. He whips at it furiously with a wooden spoon and reaches up behind him hitting the start button to the microwave. Almost done.

The sound of footsteps on hardwood prompts him to glance up over the kitchen table at Craig, who’s looking around the kitchen, eyebrow cocked. “You took me seriously.” He walks around the table to get a better look at the damage. Meat’s burning, the waffle maker looks ready to burst, and Tweek looks like shit. He closes his eyes and offers a hand. “Unbelievable.” 

“Well you said!” Tweek stands up with help from Craig. “I thought,” He places the bowl on the counter when a skillet pops. “Ow!” He wipes away at the hot grease on his arm, this being the sixth time it’s happened. “You need to at least try to sound like you’re joking!” He takes in everything around him and clutches Craigs arm. “This is bad, really bad!”

Craig takes a deep breath and moves the blonde to the side. He turns all of the equipment off, takes out a plate, and saves whatever bits that are salvageable. Only about a fifth of the food survives but even that is more than enough for the two of them. Which is saying a lot when it comes to Craigs appetite alone. He grabs another fork and hands it to Tweek who’s still standing where Craig moved him. 

“Cute get-up. You should wear that more often.” He tugs on the apron while taking in Tweeks appearance and bends down. He’s completely adorable covered in the mess, still in his pajamas, and his hair all over the place. “Eat up.” He licks a tiny bit of batter off Tweeks cheek and watches as the boy turns pink. Satisfied, he sits down and grabs a piece of bacon as if all of this is a normal Wednesday morning routine. 

Tweek removes his apron and walks to his seat as slowly as possible, wishing the redness away. He picks and chooses the times to fight the so called affection.. Or whatever this is. Craig is still an enigma to him and the only way he feels he can really get to know him is to do what his mom told him to: be himself and be patient.

He finishes up his plate thinking about the day ahead of them. He knows it’s going to be stressful but at least Butters and his other friend Nichole will be there. Everyone else is pretty much an acquaintance, even though they’ve known each other for years. Most people think of him as a spaz while others do say hello and such when they see him. It’s not awful or anything, but all the people along with schoolwork put a lot of pressure on him. 

He stands up with a sigh, ready to take a shower then turns around. “There’s something on the counter for you. I moved it out of the way to cook.” He points in the general direction and scuttles off to his room.

Curious, Craig picks up a box and an envelope. The box contains a brand new phone, unopened. In the envelope is a stack of cash with a note on the back that says ‘Here's half of your money, I'll give you the rest when the check comes. Have fun today!’. 

He absentmindedly scrunches up his nose. “What the hell is she playing at?” The phone gets tossed back where he found it. He doesn’t want any stupid gifts and his current phone is good enough for all he’s concerned. He stashes the money in his wallet, pondering her possible motives. 

~~~~~~~

They pull up to the highschool ready to get everything over with. At least Craig is. When they park Tweek leans into the steering wheel, trying to catch his breath. “..Craig?”

“Hm?” Craig looks in his direction for the first time. Tweeks hands are gripping the wheel so hard his knuckles are white and his arms are shaking.

“Can you drive back?” He pushes himself away from the wheel, rubbing his chest. He looks as if he may cry any second now.

“Yeah.”

Tension releases from his shoulders, the air around him becoming easier to take in. Driving when he’s worked up never turns out well. His vision goes blurry, all the colors mix into one. He feels his eyes moving but it’s like they can’t keep up. If he drove back, he’d surely have a panic attack. “Thank you.”

Craig shakes his head and steps out of the car. “Let’s go cutie.” They walk towards the school when he stops and grabs Tweek. “No running around telling people I’m your brother ok.” He knows once school starts that everyone will know, but he’d rather not speed up the process. Besides that, he just wants to remind the boy that he hasn’t changed his mind.

“Ok..” 

Tweek seems more worked up than usual today. The closer they get to the school entrance, the tighter his hands clench to his sides. Craig ruffles his light yellow locks reassuringly. “It’ll be fine.” He doesn’t hate Tweek. He won’t go to the moon and back for anyone, but he’ll offer Tweek something small if need be.

Inside there are lines formed behind several tables. Each table has a sign with letters on them representing the last names of the students. Tweek and Craig walk through the crowd to the S through V table. Not many people are in this particular line. Most are just standing around the room, talking about what they’d done over the break and comparing schedules. 

Craigs tells the woman behind the table his name and waits as she looks him up. The lady beside her picks up several papers about sports, upcoming events, along with other things he doesn’t care about and hands them to him. 

“Craig Tucker, there you are.” The first lady prints out a paper and hands it to him, her southern accent thick as mud. “We were given enough information on you to choose your basic courses and teachers, but you’ll need to go over there.” She points to another table all the way down to the left. “Make sure to have your birth certificate, social security card, and an ID of some sort along with this paper. The man over there will use the printout and help you choose any extracurriculars you may need or want and print out your final class schedule.” Both women smile to him as he walks away.

The table he’s sent to is for new students, fees owed from the previous year, and financial help. Since more paperwork is required here, and only one person is doing all the work, there are a line of chairs against the wall rather than having to stand. 

Craig takes a seat and reaches for his wallet to make sure he brought everything he needs. Reassured, he removes his jacket and leans his head against the wall, arms crossed, when a flash of blonde hair swoops down beside him. “Thought only new people had to be here.”

“We don’t get new people often.” He looks to his right, having mistaken someone for Tweek. Next to him sat a blonde guy with a tattered orange hoodie and jeans. He wonders if this is some sort of fashion statement until he sees the same grease that adorns the guys right pant leg on his hands as well. His hands are calloused almost completely over and his haircut is undeniably not done by a professional, though it somehow fits him well.

“Well here I am.”

The guy offers him a toothy grin, for what reason Craig has no clue. “Weclome to the shitiest podunk town there is.” 

“Sounds promising.” He rubs his head and leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Why are you here then?” Might as well make conversation if he’s going to be sitting here for God knows how long. Then again, that’s a stupid question. He’s obviously here for financial reasons.

“Lunch shit. I qualify for 50% off. I make a deal with Mackey over there to add my half to my sisters so she can eat.” The boy shrugs, waiting on a rude comment about his money situation from him, just like everyone else's. 

“Huh.” Craig finally meets the others gaze. “That’s pretty cool.”

“You’re seriously not from here.” He laughs in a joking manner. “Kenny.” He extends a fist.

“Craig.” They bump fists when a commotion starts from across the room. He glances past all the other people to the perpetrators. A redhead is yelling at some overweight guy while being held back by a boy with black hair. “You know them?”

Kenny sighs not even having to follow Craigs line of sight. “Yeah. The fatass follows us around but the other two, Stan and Kyle, are my friends. Cartman starts a lot of shit, you get used to it.” 

The big guy, Cartman, yells even louder. “It’s not my fault you’re all such fags. Tall fag, jew fag, the poor fag, wherever the fuck he is-”

“That’d be me.” Kenny rolls his eyes. “You don’t have to be there to be involved.”

“Why not just kick his ass?” This is how things worked back at the home anyway.

“It’s happened. A girl even beat the shit out of him awhile back. He doesn’t change man.” Kenny shrugs, unsure of what else to say. Cartman was just.. Cartman. No matter how old they get, he stays the same.

The man motions for Craig to come take his turn. They talk about credits and what he needs to do. He doesn’t need any extracurriculars at all it seems, but he can still choose up to three if he wants. They offered: arts & photography, foreign languages, physical education, band, NJROTC, athletics, study hall, debate team, and more specific clubs. 

Tweek comes over to see how he’s doing now that he’s wrapped everything up on his end. Craig takes the opportunity to ask what he’ll be taking. “Arts & photography and then just a study hall at the end of the day.”

“I’ll do that then.” He waves to the man, uninterested. He’s told it’ll take a minute so Tweek leaves to find his new locker and test the combination. 

By the time Craig’s finishing up, Tweek’s yet to make it back. Instead of looking around for him, he decides to lean against the wall with a decent vantage point and wait. Apparently that Cartman kid was still at it. At this point he’d pulled another two people into the mix, a boy with crutches and a girl with black hair, along with a decent sized crowd of onlookers.

“Shut the fuck up Wendy you stupid bitch!”

Kenny comes to stand next to him. “Still at it huh.”

“Yep.” 

“I’m not following you like some creep by the way.” He twists his body popping his back. “Just waiting for someone and, yeah, rather not be over there.”

Craig snorts at this. He’d already decided Kenny was ok in his book. “So am I. You’re good.” With nothing better to do they continue to make comments and watch the scene unfold until Tweek walks by the rowdy crowd of boys. 

Cartman makes a disgusted face and flips him off, his middle finger hitting him in the shoulder causing the much smaller boy to stumble. “And there goes the worst of them all.”

Tweek looks down at his feet, holds his hands together near his chest, and keeps walking like nothing happened. He does this when he’s scared. It’s past the point of tugging on his clothing but before pulling at his own hair or scratching at his arm. He’d done it enough times in front of Craig for him to be pissed at the asshole who just caused it.

“He’s such a fag his parents didn’t even want him!” The ugly piece of shit laughs alone as if everyone around him agrees. “I give it a week before the basketcase runs away crying like a bitch.” 

Kenny opens his mouth to ask who he’s waiting for when Craig turns around and shoves his class schedule in Kennys hand. “Hold this.” Tweek’s in the crowd away from sight. Craig weaves his way through the crowd until he spots him. His hand is in his pocket, clicking away at a toy. Not that anyone else around would know. “Hey Tweek.” He walks the rest of the way to him. “Go look for my schedule. I think I lost it looking for you. I’ll look here.” 

Tweek looks up, trying to hide what he’s feeling, unaware that Craig saw what happened. “Of course, I’ll be right back!” He fakes a smile and heads in the opposite direction. 

Craig watches, waiting for him to turn the corner, then strolls through the circle of teenagers towards Cartman without a second thought. “That’s some funny shit.” He grins, pretending to be the humored patron Cartman’s been waiting for. Everyone around looks confused and shocked. Not knowing who Craig is, they’re hoping they won’t be getting a second Eric. “What’s your name, man?”

Cartman laughs and exclaims to the crowd, “At least someone around here has a fucking brain.” He turns back to Craig, a smug look adorning his face. “Eric. Eric Cartman.”

Craig smiles, extending his hand. “Eric huh.” Cartman takes his hand, unaware of the others intentions, ready to gloat. Craig squeezes down on it just enough to make sure the guys attention stays on him. “Eric Cartman..” He squeezes even harder causing him to wince, confused.

“The last joke you made better not happen again. Unless, you like the idea of a living hell?” His smile turns sinister then disappears altogether. “Say what you want all day long, but keep Tweeks name out your mouth.”

“What the fuck is this?! You his boyfriend or something?!” His eyes dart around, searching for help that no one was willing to give.

“No. I’m just Craig. Craig Tucker.” He pushes Cartman back by moving forward, clenching his hand and twisting until his back hits the wall. “And you better remember it.” He let’s go, not wanting to get into an all out fight, and looks for Kenny.

“Stupid fucker.”

The raven haired boy stops in his tracks and turns around. In a split second he’s back in front of the other boy, his fist half an inch from his face and hand clenching his collar. Eric closes his eyes, bringing his arms up for protection. “What was that?”

“N-Nothing! I didn’t say anything I’m sorry!”

Craig forces Cartman to look at him. “I’m giving you a chance here. Trust that I won’t do it again. Now, what is it you’ll never do?”

“I won’t say anything about Tweek!”

“Mm.” He let’s go, satisfied with his answer. “Don’t piss me off. And take a damn shower, you smell like five day old ham.”

Eric says nothing as Craig walks away this time. Everyone who was once quiet starts cheering and laughing. Craig doesn’t care what they do. He ignores the people that try talking to him, and instead goes back to where he left Kenny. 

He takes the papers back. “Thanks.”

“Shit anytime dude.” Kenny snickers to himself, looking at the commotion and Eric’s attempts to get people to leave him alone. “That was. Damn.” He laughs some more, unable to control it. “Oh, there’s my guy.” He points towards the hallway where two boys emerge.

It was Tweek and Butters, both looking around frantically. “Gonna take a wild guess and say the other is yours.”

Craig hums as they walk towards the boys. “Don’t tell him.” 

“Got it man.”

“I can’t find it Craig! We looked everywhere. I’m sorry..” Distressed, Tweek starts pulling on his shirt. 

“We sure did look hard, Craig.” Butters chimes in, patting Tweeks back.

“Kenny found it.” He pulls Tweeks hand away from his shirt like he’d done his hair on the day they first met. “Thanks for looking.”

Kenny puts an arm around his boyfriend. “When did you meet?”

“He’s the fella I met with Tweek. The one at the dessert shop.”

“The one at the dessert shop.” Kenny perks up, nudging Tweek in the side. “How many guys do you have Tweek?”

“None!” The shortest of the boys covers his face, this being the first time he was asked such a thing.

Kenny keeps Tweek and Butters distracted with his comments as they pass by Cartman and leave the building, just in case he decided to be an even bigger dumbass today. Once out and to the cars, they sizzle down and chat. 

Butters and Tweek start going on about meeting up to buy things for school, which the other two boys share no interest in. 

Craig sits on the back of Tweeks car along with Kenny, several feet away from the others. “So you really take the big brother role pretty seriously. Or is Tweek older? He’s so small I forget his age half the time.”

“Not even close. We just live together.”

Kenny raises his brow skeptically. “Coulda fooled me.”

“Tweek I’ve been looking all over for you!” A girl runs up to Tweek hugging him tightly. Craig can hear her explain how she’d left her phone at home or she would have texted him earlier, along with other things he doesn’t really care about. 

“That Nichole?” 

“Yeah. You’ve seriously only met me and Butters?” 

“Yep.” Tweek had only ever mentioned two people since Craig had been around: Butters and Nichole. Apparently they were his two best friends. He silently wonders why Kenny didn’t extend to that seeing as he’s Butters boyfriend. Then again, Kenny’s apparently friends in some sort of manner with that Cartman kid. 

Craig may be an asshole sometimes. He might make bad decisions and cause people to feel uncomfortable, but he’d never be like that piece of shit. Then again, he is a piece of shit in his own way. He’d done things he can’t take back. But at least.. At least he had a good reason. Or so he likes to tell himself.

Thinking about Cartman makes him wonder what sort of high school social life Tweek had beyond Nichole and Butters. What did he do when neither of them were in his class? Did they hang out outside of school often? From what he knew, it didn’t seem like it. And what had he been through with Cartman so far? How many Cartmans had Tweek put up with?

“Craig? Hey Craig?”

Kenny nudges him and points to Tweek. “Huh?” Apparently Tweek had been trying to get his attention for awhile now. 

“Are you okay?” The blonde looks at him with concern written all over his face.

“Yeah, just spaced out. Sup?”

“This is my friend, Nichole.” His usual smile takes over his previous worry.

Not wanting to be rude to one of possibly the only two friends Tweek has, Craig does the usual back and forth of meeting someone new, paying attention as to not come off as too big a dick with his normal manner of speaking. The girl is especially nice and apparently pretty popular. As girls file out of the school, they make sure to stop and catch up with her, along with introducing themselves to Craig, much to his dismay. 

He’s tired of people for the day. He was done with people before they even got here honestly. “Hey Tweek, we gotta go.” 

“Oh.. Ok. Bye you guys.” Tweek waves to his friends and turns for the passenger side of the car.

Craig exchanges numbers with Kenny and hops into the driver's seat, having to push it way back in order to sit properly.

“We have orientation in a couple days and we need to get school supplies soon.” Tweek speaks up faintly.

“You’re really going to that?”

“I well, I have to. I don’t do well on tests or pop quizzes, or when I get called on in the middle of class… Just um. You know, it’s a lot of pressure. I get flustered and I can’t think.” Just thinking about it is stressing him out. “If I go to orientation, I get an extra credit A in most of the classes and a test grade A in three of them. I need it.”

Craig knew not only the importance of finishing highschool, but moreso, finishing it on time. For someone like him, he would need it more than anything else. No fake families, no staff members or social workers he practically grew up with; no one would help him. College would never be within his reach. This would be the only way for him to obtain a job that would sustain a simple life that wasn’t illegal. “I’ll help.” 

Growing up the way he did, with ample free time, he’d taken a liking to his teacher. Not in a weird way, but he really respected him and the teacher made him feel as though he was worth something. Things changed but even so he continued to learn on his own, outside of class. There weren’t many books in the boys home so he also took to reading the textbooks they provided as if they were storybooks. Eventually he grew bored of it and quit paying attention in class, yet he always stayed ahead of the curve.

Tweek stares at Craig's face for any indication that he’d heard wrong, but it was as blank as ever. “Thanks Craig. I think it’s my nerves that stunt me the most but we have study hall together so this could help a lot.”

“So we’ll work on that too.”

“What?”

“Your nerves Peep. We’ll work on em. I have a pretty good idea on how to fix you.” The boy grins. Not a happy grin, more of a playful yet scary type.

“..Thank you.” He hadn’t expected him to be this nice, yet he knew that last part was more than likely something for Craig rather than himself. Something that might worry him more.

“No problem.” After seeing Eric earlier, Craig felt a tinge of empathy for Tweek. Therefore he figured helping him out with something school related wouldn’t be too big of a drag. Especially if he got to play with him even more.

“..We still have to go to orientation or I’ll regret it...”

Craig sighs in defeat. “Sure. So where to?”

~~~~~~~

Tweek unlocks the door, holding it open for Craig whose arms are filled with bags full of snacks and a pizza. The amount they bought was definitely overkill, but Craig just kept throwing things into the basket until Tweek tripped over himself trying to carry it. Part of Tweek felt like Craig did it for his own amusement, especially after seeing the face he made when he’d fallen. The other part knew that Craig could probably eat all of this by himself in under an hour and still be hungry. 

Craig walks past him and throws the bags by the couch. “When’s Anne gonna be here?” 

“Um.” Tweek checks the time. “Any time now.”

Craig gives him a quick peck on the lips and smirks, knowing the younger boy worried over his mom coming home when he did these things the most. By now, Tweek figures that Craig would never let that happen though.

After registration they drove around for awhile, Tweek frantically trying to come up with something to keep them busy for the rest of the day. With the small town unable to offer much entertainment, they decided on having a simple movie marathon. 

Craig plops down and tears off a piece of pizza while Tweek runs off to their shared bedroom to get pillows and blankets. He’s never really done anything like this besides with his mom and wants to be certain that everything is perfect so he grabs every pillow, the blankets from their beds, and any extras stored away in the closet. He walks back steadily, the soft contents in his arms towering over his head blocking his view.

“What are you doing, building a fort?” 

“Um..” He drops them into the loveseat and turns around, pondering the question. “Is that what I’m supposed to do?”

Taking the opportunity for a little entertainment Criag smirks. “No shit. It’s not legit if you don’t.”

“Oh, okay.” The blonde quickly separates the pillows from the blankets and surveys the area. The living room TV is pretty high and he’s pretty sure he doesn’t have enough items to make a fort big enough for this. “Shouldn’t we go to our room then? I don’t think it’ll work here.”

“Good idea.” He snatches up everything Tweek brought into the living room and hands them back. “Get to it.” 

Tweek shakes his head, a determined look on his face, and retreats back to the bedroom.

“He’s too easy.” Craig smiles to himself, finishing off the piece of pizza. He wipes his fingers off on his jeans and grabs the cushions from the living room and den to give to him as well. 

“Er Craig.. How do I do this?” 

“Simple. Look it up on your phone.” He shrugs waiting for a disaster to ensue. “You need chairs.”

The blonde watches him walk away and come back with all the food they’d bought and lay back against the wall. He obviously wasn’t going to help physically but at least he was able to ask questions. After bringing in all the kitchen chairs, moving the tv around, and finding clips to keep everything together, he hits a roadblock. “I need help with the mattresses.”

He watches as Craig groans but reluctantly stands up and pulls at each mattress, moving them to the center of the room. “Have at it. I’m gonna lay down.” He has no idea where exactly Craig plans to lay down since the beds and couches were unusable, but decides not to question it. He spends the better part of the next forty minutes putting together the perfect fort. It fell apart twice but this time it looks.. Decent. 

He leaves his room in search of Craig when his mother comes through the front door. “Oh hi mom.” 

“Hey Sweetheart, how was registration? Did Craig have any problems?” She moves past him, setting her bag and laptop on the counter. She gave the school all the information she could before he’d gotten here but knew he’d have to go through a few extra hurdles in the process.

“It was fine, I got all the classes I wanted and Craig’s going to take A&P with me. Oh! And he said he’ll help me during study hall. The only issue we had was when he lost his schedule but it’s ok, Kenny found it.” He watches as his mom picks up the phone she’d bought Craig and flips it over, a confused look on her face. 

“Well that’s wonderful Sweetie. Did he make any friends yet? No one picked on either of you did they?” 

“Um, he met Nichole today but I’m not sure if he’s interested in being friends with her..” He looks back on the way he spoke to people while they were there. “I don’t know if he really wants many friends mom. He talked to Kenny.. Like, he seemed to like him plenty. But a lot of people tried talking to him and he just made them go away.” It didn’t make sense to him. Basically everyone that laid eyes on Craig wanted to talk to him. That on it’s own boggled Tweeks brain since he clearly looked annoyed but even so, he couldn’t understand why anyone would intentionally shove people away that clearly wanted to be friends. He’d rather not bring up what Cartman said to him. He knew the school year would bring with it even more mean things from him.. There’s no point in letting her know that class hasn’t even started yet and Cartman already made him feel bad. “I don’t understand it mom. Why would anyone refuse friendships?”

“Hmm. Follow me Tweek.” She places a hand on his shoulder, leading him to her own room and locking the door behind her. 

“Sweetie.” She sits down on the bed and looks to him knowingly. “I don’t like bringing it up, you know this, but I need you to think back to when you started making progress after coming here.” She pats the spot beside her, silently asking him to sit beside her.

Tweek does so reluctantly. He hated hearing about those days. 

“You didn’t trust me back then. You had every reason not to and you know very well that I never did and never will blame you for it. Even after you began to trust me, you still kept me at a distance, and when school started you were horrified. Remember?”

“Of course I do. Everyone made fun of me. No one would accept me because I.. When they figured out where I came from.. They used it as a joke. And I didn’t act normal. I tried but I couldn’t.” He says this, trying with all his might to keep himself together. It may have been a long time ago, but it still hurt to this very day. 

“But you didn’t give up did you? You applied yourself so that your past would never dictate your future. That said, in the very beginning you avoided everyone. You kept yourself at arms length. Don’t you think that maybe Craig is doing the same? It may not be the exact same thing, but he just left a home, like you did back then. He may be hurting, but handling it differently than other people would. Do you understand?”

“I..” He scratches at his arms, wanting so badly to tell her what Craig would do behind her back. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.. But mom, what if he decided he didn’t like us before he got here? What if he never does?”

“We can only wait and find out Sweetie.” He can feel her rubbing his back the same way she did on that day so very long ago. This was something she would do to silently tell him everything would be ok. “I wasn’t sure what I was doing back then.. So I just did what my gut told me to. I did what I thought you would want to make you feel comfortable, and hoped for the best. Eventually, you broke through what you thought was normal and here you are. My little baby boy.” 

Tweek understands exactly what she’s trying to say, but how on God's green Earth was he supposed to do this when it came to Craig? Craig wanted to mess with Tweek in ways he shouldn’t. He would get angry at the weirdest of times. He thought making Tweek flustered was fun. That can’t be the same as what Tweek went through. Tweek just wanted to be loved and accepted back then. “Ok, I’ll try. Thank you mom.” 

His mother smiles and stands up. “Well I have work to do but if you need anything else, I’m always here for you.”

“I know.” He smiles and gives her a quick hug. “Thanks again.” They part ways, Tweek setting of towards his room and his mother to the kitchen to grab her laptop. Their discussion would probably be helpful if the person were anyone except Craig, but he would still keep it in mind just in case.

When he walks through the door he remembers he’d forgotten to find Caig. “Shoot.” He turns around and searches the house, finding him lying between the coffee table and couch, sleeping away. “Craig, wake up. I finished it.” He shakes the boy furiously, knowing that trying to be nice about it won’t cause him to budge an inch.

“What the fuck?” 

“Get up everything’s ready.”

“Seriously?” Criag snorts and stands up.

“Yeah, it isn’t perfect but, um, I did it.” Tweek goes back to their room, Craig following him, becoming more self conscience the closer they get. Craig laughs a little when he sees the mess but pats Tweeks back nonetheless.

The blonde lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and lifts the side. “Ah, check it out.”

“Mm.” Craig goes inside, laughing the entire time. Tweek isn’t sure if he thinks the fort looks stupid or if he’s having fun. “Take your meds.”

“Okay.” He isn’t sure why he’s being told to do this. Maybe Craig plans on watching a scary movie or something else he thinks may cause him to freak out. Either way, he goes ahead and takes all his pills for the night. When done he crawls into the fort and smiles. It’s pretty fun, like they’re in a completely different place altogether. 

His smile soon changes to a look of surprise when Craig snatches him up, placing him in his lap. “What do you wanna watch?” 

“Um ah I don’t know!” 

“Calm down. I’ve barely been near you all day.” Criag flips through the streaming service, looking for a more recent movie. “What do you like?”

Tweek struggles to think straight, Criags freezing lap beneath him taking 99% of his thoughts. “Um aah Oh God. Uh animation!” If this is how things were going to be, he at least wanted something lighthearted and fun playing. He quickly begins to regret ever making what’s beginning to feel like a prison around him. 

“Mm.”

He shakes his head furiously and stares straight ahead, watching the other boy narrow down their options to animated movies. 

“What about that one? It’s live action b-but I’ve never seen one.” Tweek points to one of the movies, trying to focus in on the task at hand rather than Craig. 

“I don’t care.” He clicks play and wraps both arms around the small boy in his lap.

They watch the movie this way until thirty minutes in when Criag opens his mouth. “Pft, what is this? You choose it on purpose?”

“What? Why would I do that?” Tweek bends his head back in confusion.

“The protagonist, she’s wearing all yellow.. It reminds me of your hair. The monster’s wearing blue like the jacket I always have on. But that isn’t really it. The monster, he’s a dick, he wants what he wants and that’s that, he’s a damn monster. And the girl, she wants to save him. No matter how awful he acts to her, she doesn’t give up.” He laughs, but it’s different than usual. 

Tweek doesn’t really understand what he means by this. “You’re calling me a girl?”

“No idiot.” Craig sighs into Tweeks hair. The guy could be so blind to these things sometimes. “She’s good, he’s bad, but she won’t give up on him. It’s stupid.”

“So, you’re saying you’re a monster and I should give up on you..?” Tweek stares ahead, looking past everything in front of him. 

“Life doesn’t work that way. It’s not a movie and there isn’t a happy ending for me.”

“I.. I don’t think you’re a monster.” He can’t think he is. If he did, that would not only be giving up on Craig, it would be giving up on his mother's hopes.

“Psh.” Criag falls back onto the mattress, bringing Tweek down with him. “Like I care.” He pulls the blondes face towards his own, nipping at his bottom lip. Tweek begins squirming, as he always does, causing Craig to just hold him even tighter. “Why won’t you just give up?”

“Be-Because!” Tweek thrashes around, trying to release himself from Craigs grip.”It's not. It isn’t right Craig!” 

“Fucking hell Tweek.” Craig flips them over so that he’s now the one on top. “It isn’t right, yet you fight back less. It isn’t right, but you still let it happen. You like being my little plaything.”

It’s starting up again, Tweek can tell by the way his voice has changed.

This happens at least once a day without fail. It’s as if a switch somewhere within Craig flips, amping up the way he acts by 80% or more. He constantly reminds Tweek of his interest in him already, but when this happens, he’s much more intense. Rather than words or a small gesture, he’ll opt to pinning him down and kissing him everywhere. It’s completely different than how he normally behaves and Tweek isn’t so sure that Craig is even aware. So far it’s happened eight times, this being the ninth.

It does seem as he has his own rules though. He’s never kissed Tweek below his neck or touched him past his hips. When it comes to touching, he really doesn’t do much besides playing with his hair, rubbing his fingers against his cheek, or holding his hips. For this Tweek is very grateful. 

The one and only thing Tweek has been able to put together when it comes to these times, is that they usually only happen when his mom is home. He still isn’t sure if this is a coincidence or not but he’s leaning more towards it being intentional. Craig will normally tell Tweek something that has to do with ‘Anne’ or things that make absolutely no sense to Tweek. Like helping him when no one will, talking about people that Tweek doesn’t know, or mentioning how they were different but the same. 

The entire situation made Tweek sad in more ways than one but also horrified and angry. He hadn’t cried again, it felt like a waste of energy, instead he would try to talk sense into Craig or pay attention to what the boy would say. 

He remembers back to what his mom just told him. Is this what Craig needs? Like Tweek needed to cry, hide, and hope.. Was this Craigs way of screaming and crying at the top of his lungs? No. This was something very different, but it was still something wrong. 

“..learn even if you don’t want to.” 

“W-What?” Tweek hadn’t heard what he said. Craig was currently laying his face in the crook of Tweeks neck, mumbling and placing soft kisses. Tweek hadn’t realized it, but he’d been squeezing his fists so hard his right palm was bleeding. 

“When it does, you can go too.”

The blonde doesn’t bother asking what he’s talking about. He tugs at Craig's head forcing him up, hoping to see sadness, confusion, something he can work with. To his dismay, he sees nothing but an arrogant, cocky, devious boy with glazed over eyes. The eyes of someone he doesn’t know. Either way, he has to try and stop it. “You’re a..an idiot.”

“What?” 

“I might be an idiot, you say it.. You tell me I am all the time. But.. But so are you. You’re an idiot.”

Craig looks at him as though he’s lost his mind and Tweek waits to get told off or even punched. He closes his eyes, but neither happen. Instead Craig begins laughing. “I know, dumbass.” When he looks up he sees the face of Craig, not a stranger anymore. 

Craigs pulls Tweeks hands away from his face and notices the boys palm. “What the fuck?”

“I um.” Tweek pulls his hand away. “It was an accident..” He’d done it out of fear instead of panicking his usual way, he knew that, but he didn’t want to say. 

“I’m the only one that can hurt you.” He says this with anger in his voice, yet shame on his face. “Remember that.” Craig moves away from him, finishing the movie and watching two more after. He hardly looked like he’d been paying attention to them however. When the last one finishes he lays back on the mattress and tugs on Tweeks sleeve twice. 

Tweek looks back, this being the first time he’s touched him since. “What?” 

“I’m not moving these back right now, and I’m tired. C’mon Sunshine.” He was back to his usual self.

“I’m not sleeping with you! Oh God no.”

“I’d say I don’t bite but we both know that’s a lie.” Craig rolls his eyes while pulling him down. “I won’t bother you so shut up.” He pulls one of the blankets over them with a yawn and wraps his arms around him. 

“This is bothering me..” The blonde whispers, realizing how tired he’s become. With no energy to fight it, he falls asleep but not for long.

Tweek’s guessing it’s less than an hour later when he wakes due to Craigs tossing and turning. This is his chance to move to the couch. To get away from the guy that comes onto him when he should be trying to integrate himself into the family. 

The blonde sits up quietly and begins to crawl out of the fort when he hears Craig speak. He freezes, knowing he’s been caught. With a sigh he hangs his head in defeat, ready to turn around and return to his spot on the mattress.

“Ag- …. Please”

Tweek opens his mouth to tell him he’s coming back but stops. Craig would never say please. He backs up a little and sits down. Just as he thought, Craig is still asleep. The snoring that Tweek is used to hearing when he wakes in the middle of the night to use the restroom is nonexistent. “Nngh.” His face turns into a full blown grimace as if in pain.

The blondes first instinct is to shake him awake but halfway to the boys body he stops. Craig doesn’t like to be woken in the first place and how would he explain the reason he’d wake him up now, when he’d just fallen asleep? Craig never shows weakness.. He more than likely would count a nightmare as one. 

With no other ideas he lays back down where he’d been before, except this time.. He places his arm around the older boy and closes his eyes. He knows this won’t do much for someone who isn’t exactly conscious, but maybe the closeness of another human being would change his dream to something less scary.

Eyes closed or not, he can’t help but listen to Craig each time he speaks. He’s even trying to stay awake to make sure he’s okay. He decides if it becomes any worse he’ll wake him up even if Craig gets mad at him.

“No….. Can’t.”

Suddenly Craig bolts straight up, breathing heavily. Tweeks heart does a flip but he doesn’t move. Bad dream or not, Craig would probably find a way to turn it all around and poke fun at him for watching him sleep. He silently begs his heart to chill out and return to a steady pace before Craig lays back down.

‘I’m asleep, I’m asleep, I’m asleep.’ He lays there, doing his best to look as though he’s genuinely sleeping. Which is a lot harder than he thought it would be. 

“Fuck, my head.” 

Tweek can imagine it easily, Craig bending over with his head in his hands, brows knit in pain. He gets headaches quite often. They usually happen late in the day, sometimes more than once a day. He can wake up with one and go to sleep with one. Tweek always feels bad that he can’t really help him with this and medicine doesn’t seem to help all that much either. It’s the only debility he’s shown so far. 

“Screw this. I can’t stop.” 

The blonde listens carefully once Craig is out of the fort and near his bed frame. There’s a lot of rustling around followed by the sound of a zipper. Footsteps leave the room, becoming fainter with each step. If he was going to the bathroom, his footsteps wouldn’t be so far away.

A door knob jiggles, the front door closes, and Tweek’s heart falls into his stomach. Goosebumps cover his entire body, the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention, he can feel something within his bones, something that’s taking over his entire body, making his skin crawl. It’s nothing like a panic attack, it feels somewhat like a child that swears he just heard a monster knock inside the closet. It’s a type of fear, dread, and sadness. He’s never felt this exact feeling before and he can’t take it.

He needs to move quickly if he’s going to catch up to Craig. He thought they were at least friends by now. He thought Craig didn’t hate him anymore. He didn’t like it here, but he didn’t hate him right? No matter what, he has to get out there and find him.

He crawls through the fort and runs at full speed towards the front door of the house. At the door he grabs a coat and realizes he’s barefoot but there’s no time for that. He opens the door, quickly closing it as fast as possible but quiet enough as not to wake his mother. 

He turns and bolts down the stairs. He has to make up for the lost time. He has to catch up! He absolutely has to go faster! 

“Oomph!” He slams face first into what is obviously a human. He rubs his now tender nose, heart pounding, and looks up at Craig who’s looking down at him, irritated, but holding him steady nonetheless. 

“Look ahead. Not at your feet.”

Tweek completely ignores him and goes off on a tangent. “Where are you going?! Why are you leaving us? You said nine months! We-We haven’t even started school yet! You just made friends with Kenny! I thought..” His voice is almost desperate as he stares straight into the others eyes. “I thought we were friends!!” 

“Here.” He isn’t holding anything or pointing either.

“Here.. What?” 

Craig groans as he walks leisurely towards the house and sits on one of the steps. “I’m not going anywhere.” He drops his bag beside him as if to say he isn’t going to try and make a run for it. 

“But.. But you packed and everything. What’s going on?” His earlier bought of adrenaline is dissipating, causing him to turn into the overly worried version of himself that he didn’t like people to see.

“I changed my mind.” Craig reaches out and pulls Tweek down by his coat, forcing him to sit in hopes he’ll relax better this way.

“But why.. Why go.. I-I don’t..” 

“No. Why did you come? You’re so hung up on what Anne says that you’d chase me down in the middle of the night? And then what? Talk me into coming back for her?”

Tweeks eyes narrow as he contemplates the question. He doesn’t like the way Craig asked him, but that’s to be expected. “N-No.” His eyes flicker to him. “I didn’t think about mom at all..”

Craig peers at him, brows furrowed. “Then why?”

“I.. Because I. I think we’re friends or ah- I don’t know. We’re something like that right?” He pauses, trying to make sense of it. He doesn’t want Craig to say that they aren’t friends. “Either way, I know I’d be upset if you left.”

“I haven’t been here that long Tweek.”

The blonde takes in a deep breath and looks straight ahead, into the darkness. “It took me awhile.. But long ago, I learned that time is irrelevant when it comes to these things. Family and friendships.”

“How do you figure?”

“Um, Butters.” This is his best bet to get his point across right now. He doesn’t want to talk about before he got here, not yet. And he’s sure that Craig of all people doesn't want to hear anything that has to do with family. “He was nice to me the very first day we met but I kept my guard up.. I wouldn't even speak. It took me awhile to even begin to trust him. I thought he would be like everyone else. So I never called him my friend for a long time, but when I look back on it, we were friends on day one. Deep down I knew he was good and even though I didn’t trust him, I realized that I looked forward to when he talked to me. I..” Tweek hopes he’s getting his point across. He isn’t the best when it comes to explaining things or giving speeches. “The day you call someone your friend doesn’t mean a thing. Butters didn’t say we were friends until I finally spoke up. It took me so long to do..” He pauses to take a breath, a little amazed that he’d made it this far. “I don’t know exactly what we are.. But we’re something. I feel that way. I have since your second day here, when you- you helped me.”

Only the sound of crickets and rustling of the trees around them could be heard. Tweek knew saying anything more would be futile and Craig would speak when he felt like it.

“Something huh.” 

It isn’t a very big response by any means, but Tweek knows that he’s paying attention and actually listening to what he has to say. “Everything’s kind of weird and unconventional.”

“Mm.” Craig sighs and leans back. “I’m leaving in about eight months now either way. You remember right?”

“Yeah but, um, maybe.. Maybe by then you won’t, ah, call my mom Anne anymore. You could..” Change his mind. He can’t say this though. He doesn’t want to make Craig mad. He already has a packed bag with him, no need to poke the bear.

“Feel free to think what you want. But don’t try chasing me when that day comes. It won’t do you any good.”

“...Yeah..Ok.”

To say Tweek was bummed out is an understatement, but that wouldn’t make him give up on the other boy.

A hand lands on his shoulder and squeezes slightly, as if Craig is trying to give him a little reassurance. “I don’t make friends. But, you’re right I guess. We’re kinda something.” Ever since Tweek had that panic attack, Craig’s been trying to pay more attention, to try and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Or at least, that he isn’t the reason it does. They haven’t talked about that series of events and he doesn’t want to, but the simple fact that he never wants to see Tweek in such a state ever again, tells him that the boy sitting next to him isn’t like other people to him. 

Besides that, Tweek is just so different than anyone he’s ever met. He’s ignorant.. Like he hasn’t been polluted yet and he refuses to let anyone change that. Craig tries to get the blonde to put his guard up, to learn that things aren’t as they seem, to even just get mad and be a dick, but he only seems to become more resilient to doing so. Craig hates this about him but at the same time can’t help but admire it. Not like he’ll ever say so. So sure, he’ll agree that they’re something, but something doesn’t have to mean much. “Saying that doesn’t change anything though so don’t let it get to your head.” He quickly adds, staring at him with serious eyes.

They sit in silence for awhile, staring up at the night sky until Tweek carefully picks his next question. “What about Kenny then?”

“I can’t avoid everyone. From what I’ve seen this place is full of imbeciles. He’s preferable to them. It’s like acquaintances. Some are closer than others but they aren’t your friends an- Where the fuck are your shoes?” He instantly picks up his pack and stands up, pulling Tweek along with him into the house. “Swear to God you’re such an idiot sometimes.”

Tweek watches as Craig shakes his head in annoyance while being pulled into their room. Idiot or not, the guy in front of him cared at least a little and somewhat solidified their friendship. He wished he knew what went through his head tonight though. What made him pack up and walk out the door to begin with. 

“Get in bed.”

Tweek stays still, staring up at him. “Are you coming too?” 

“Yeah. Go.”

The blonde crawls onto the mattresses and waits for the other to follow, ready to bolt after him in any second. He can hear him taking his shoes off and changing back into comfortable clothing but even so.

When Craig sees the worried yet determined look on his face that he’d shown him earlier he rolls his eyes. “I’m not leaving, just go to sleep.”

“But how do I know that? You could go. You could walk out when I fall asleep.”

“For fucks sake.” He passes Tweek and makes himself comfy under the covers. “Come here.” He motions with his head and lifts the blanket. 

“Ok..” It isn’t as if he can lock Craig away in a cell somewhere or stay up all night every night in order to make sure he stays put. That’d be weird anyway. He crawls under the covers, a little upset that his naked feet cut their conversation short. He opens his mouth to speak when Craig pulls him against his own body, arm wrapped around him, his head on Craigs shoulder. “What-What is this?!” 

“So you’ll know if I move.” He cracks his neck and lays back.

“But! This is weird! And.. I don’t- What do I do with my hands?!” 

“It’s only weird if you make it.” Craig moves Tweeks left arm so that it’s bent to where he can either lay it on his chest or move it towards himself. “So, you wanna make it weird?” He smirks down at the boy in his arms. 

This is one of the things he wanted to talk to Craig about tonight seeing as they were on a roll earlier. He doesn’t want friends, he refuses family, but does things like this.It’s driving Tweek crazy. He has his theories.. But every conclusion he comes to about Craig seems to fall through. “No!”

“Psh, thought so. Now go to sleep I’m tired as fuck.” He closes his eyes but stirs as he seems to remember something. “Tweek. What did you see tonight?”

It takes a few minutes for him to run through the events of the night. So many things happened and they were both there so why ask? He racks his brain trying to think of anything Craig might mean. “Oh. Um, I woke up and you were having a-”

“What did you see tonight Tweek?”

“I’m trying to tell y-”

“Tweek.” He says his name like a parent warning their child that they better stop right now.

Um.. Oh.. Oh! “Nothing Craig.” He closes his eyes when he feels Craig relaxing next to him. With exhaustion enveloping his body, he whispers one last plea before falling asleep. “Don’t run away again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a lot longer than the last two chapters but with the time skip I wanted to show a little progress.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a 4am... Future chapters to be written at appropriate times lol. Suggestions and requests are cool.


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